Our Team

Jim Atack

Chairman

A chartered civil engineer, Jim has spent most of his working life in the oil industry, around the world. He devotes his time to renewables projects in eco-housing and high technology battery storage.

Until 2018 Jim was Chairman of leading Swiss-based battery maker Leclanché and is a Board member of housing company Beattie Passive. Until 2011, he was a director of Petrofac, Plc, a UK international oil services company - establishing it as the sole operator of North Sea platforms and terminals and all of Dubai's onshore and offshore oil and gas field facilities, including some 70 offshore platforms in the Arabian Gulf.

Martin Valentine

Managing Director

When he's not on site - or looking for new sites, or securing planning permission - you will usually find Martin in the Trent End, watching Nottingham Forest... or playing bass guitar for Luxury Stranger.

"Like all the best ideas, Positive Homes was born in a pub chat: If you started from a blank sheet of paper, how would you build a house? You would build it to be super-energy efficient, to be a really nice place to live that's safe and warm. That basic ethos continues to drive us."

Tricia Valentine

Corporate Director

When she's not at work making sure our developments run to time and budget - and a million other things - Tricia is all about endurance. A previous finisher of the London and Paris marathons, Tricia is training for a 41 mile ultra-marathon in 2020. She's also a student at Nottingham Trent University Business School, doing an MBA.

Ben Atack

Technical Director

Ben leads on assessing the energy demands of our homes, identifying suppliers and contractors who can achieve our required standards at competitive prices. Ben is a trained SAP and airtightness assessor. He has significant experience designing passivhaus schemes (using the Passive House Planning Package) and integrating different technologies to maximise homeowner benefit.

Ben has a masters degree in IT programming, and is currently studying for a PhD in Energy at Loughborough University.

Bill Fordham

Site Manager

Bill runs our building sites - making sure we strictly follow all health and safety rules and looking after our contractors and visitors. He's also responsible for our 'aftercare' service, looking after our new homeowners. And he's a very good gardener too.

But you're just as likely to find him on stage, playing bass in 'death metal' band Blood Oath. Bill and MD Martin are old friends - having first played in a band together back in 1990, aged just 17 and 20.

Janet Taylor

Non-executive Director

Janet, alongside Jim, is our main investor.

Graduating from Loughborough University with a degree in Library Studies, Janet was a librarian before studying computer programming.

Janet has spent most of her working life designing, implementing and supporting diverse IT systems, in both private businesses and local authorities, mainly around the UK.

Today you're most likely to find Janet managing her local village hall in Rutland - or riding her electric bike...

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about 2 days ago

Full on day today - finally on the finishing touches! Sam and Hannah move in tomorrow, lots of jetwashing to do first thing..... two more viewings today of our incredible ‘A’ rated super-energy-efficient homes.... @… instagram.com/p/CBB4RP…

As a builder of new ecohomes, we completely agree with this. That 20% lost to VAT is money that is better spent on improving insulation, reducing heat demand and improving air quality in older homes. twitter.com/nickywatso…